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Bringing Adults Back to College: Designing and Implementing a Statewide Concierge Model

A ready adult (or reentry) concierge is a single-point of contact at a college or university who helps returning adult students navigate the application, enrollment, and registration processes and overcome barriers to college success. To better understand the barriers faced by students in the reenrollment process and how the Concierge Model can help potential students reengage and earn a degree, WICHE recently collaborated with the Nevada System of Higher Education to convene a meeting of staff from each of the seven public institutions who serve as the campus concierge. This brief highlights effective strategies of ready adult concierges and provides a framework for those interested in implementing this model.

David A. Longanecker

David A. Longanecker is the president of the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education in Boulder, Colorado.

Previously he served for six years as the assistant secretary for postsecondary education at the U.S. Department of Education, developing and implementing national policy and programs that provided more than $40 billion annually in student aid and $1 billion to institutions. Prior to that he was the state higher education executive officer (SHEEO) in Colorado and Minnesota.

He was also the principal analyst for higher education for the Congressional Budget Office. Dr. Longanecker has served on numerous boards and commissions and has written extensively on a range of higher education issues.

WICHE, Six Decades of Collaboration in the West

The Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education is a regional organization created by the Western Regional Education Compact and adopted in the 1950s by Western states. WICHE was created to facilitate resource sharing among the higher education systems of the West. It implements a number of activities to accomplish its objectives.

WICHE began operations in 1953 in Eugene, OR, moving to its present location in Boulder, CO, in 1955. WICHE is governed by three gubernatorially appointed commissioners from each member. Under terms of the compact, each member commits to support WICHE's basic operations through annual dues established by the full commission.

WICHE's members include 15 Western states and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (the first of the U.S. Pacific territories and freely associated states to participate).